Sweet Strawberries
by Khalissa
Summary: The auditions for the best arts school in California are open. Everyone is trying their best to get in and chase after their dreams. Will these students be able to face their teenager problems and focus on their future as well? Witness the romance of Ellie and Ruy and all their friends on this dramatic and amusing story.


**Author's Note: **First of all, a big hello to all my readers! This story is a little bit big, if not huge and I'm already working on the sequel lol, so if you don't like big stories and fast updates, I suggest that you don't read it at all. Of course I would appreciate all the advices and critiques you can give me, it helps a lot :) Well, anyway, hope you like it!

* * *

**_Chapter One: The Auditions (pt._**_ 1)_

It was a day like the others. The weather was decent, California's streets were crowded and a lot of people were doing their normal daily routine. There was just a little difference… School started today.

Ruy, Flash, Leo, Clara and Rose were inside their car on their way to their new arts school. In that school, those who wanted to get in needed to pass the auditions where they would have to choose between singing, dancing or acting. They were all excited and nervous, but they were having a good time with positive thoughts while they danced in the car.

"Everything's gonna be fine, you'll see!" Ruy said with a big smile on his face.

"We're gonna rock!" Flash screamed.

Ruy realized that the car in front of him was too slow, so he decided to get on with it and move ahead without noticing that he could've hit it. The man that was inside the car honked irritated.

"What the hell was this? You scaramouch!" he screamed while he turned to his wife. "Did you see that? These indecent morons on the streets."

"Don't push yourself, honey…" she said, trying to avoid the matter.

On the backseat were Caroline and Ellie, their two daughters. Ellie was 16 and Caroline was only 8. Ellie looked at her father to see what was going on but she decided to let it go since she realized she didn't really care about it.

When the two cars stopped at the red light next to each other, the man whose name was Theodor, looked inside the other car.

"Of course… A bunch of idiots in a car."

"Darling, please…" said his wife trying to calm things down.

"If I was in charge…" he continued without hearing her.

Even if she didn't care about it, Ellie looked outside her window and looked at the people inside the car to see who the "idiots" were. While she did it, Flash, the guy in the car turned around and looked at her.

"Look at that babe at 8 o'clock."

"8 o'clock?" Clara asked confused, looking at her watch.

"8 o'clock… Alright, that's…" Rose tried to think what her brother's friend was saying and when she finally understood it, she looked at the window.

"Is it cute or not, man? C'mon, look at her, confess." Flash kept saying.

With that, Ruy turned around and looked at the girl. He stopped for a moment and kept looking at her like there was no one else in there. They kept looking at each other for a couple of seconds and Ellie couldn't help but drop a little smile before she turned away her gaze from him. Ruy only came back to his senses when he felt Clara's arm on his.

"The light's green!"

When both cars started again, a yellow jeep suddenly passed in front of them in high speed without noticing anything.

"Grams, you're going to kill me!" one of the boys in the jeep screamed.

"Why?" the old woman asked. "Oh dear, the light wasn't red yet, it was still yellow."

"You gotta be getting color blind, that's it." the other boy said. "Speaking of views, are you sure this is the way to school?"

"I might be getting color blind but I'm not cachetic."

The two boys were Philip and Jake Peter. Jake was the older one but Philip was the wiser and responsible one.

* * *

After a few minutes driving, Ruy's car finally reached the school of their dreams. While they got out of the car, Flash complained.

"I'll admit right now that I don't like the color."

"It's way better that our old school…" Clara answered. "At least the walls are clean."

"Don't give him any ideas." Ruy joked making Clara laugh. "So, let's go?"

"Let's go!" Flash agreed.

With that, they all entered the school as well as other people, including a girl named Paula and her mother.

"If you're not accepted in this school, there's no problem, dear."

"Okay mom, stop with that conversation, please."

"Oh sweetheart, but I just want to help. You can come back home–"

"Mom!" with that, they both stopped for a while.

"I can't stand anymore. This walk killed me… We should've taken a táxi." her mom complained, making Paula regret letting her come too.

* * *

"C'mon, tell me! Why are you in a hurry?" Caroline asked her sister while they were still in the car.

"Nothing… We're just late, that's all."

"Oh Ellie, don't worry we're not late." her mother answered.

"Ellie is in a hurry to go to the convent school, this really is a first time. We're gonna have to buy some fireworks, don't you think?" her dad asked, trying to make a joke but with no sucess.

"Teddy…" her mother rebuked and then turned to her daughter. "Is everything alright, dear?"

"Yes…" Ellie answered a little bit impacient.

* * *

In the schoolyard, a lot of people were nervously waiting for their turns and practicing. Flash came running and sat next to Ruy and asked him if he was nervous but with no response, 'cause he didn't realized that his friend was listening to music.

"What?" Ruy asked, taking one ear-headphone out.

"I asked if you are nervous, man."

"Yeah…" he answered, insecure.

"Ruy is nervous? I think it's the first time I see you nervous, man. What, are you afraid you're not gonna get in?"

"No, I'm sure that I'll be accepted."

Flash seemed confused. "Then what? Are you afraid your sister's not getting in?"

"No…"

"Then why are you nervous?"

"Man, I'm afraid you're not getting in."

"Huh?!" Flash exclaimed surprised. Ruy put his ear-headphone back on without saying another word, leaving Flash with a surprised look on his face without knowing what his bestfriend meant.

* * *

After a few minutes, the old woman and her two grandsons finally reached the school as well. She was so happy to see her little two boys in that school.

"We're here!" she said. "C'mon boys, get out!"

"But… It's here?" Jake asked with a disgusted look while he stared at the school. "Are you sure it's here?"

"Absolutely!"

"You've been running around in circles all day."

"Oh dear, so what?" she asked, toying with him.

"But is this the arts school?" the other boy in the backseat asked. His grandma nodded with a big smile. "But it doesn't look like it…"

"Oh dear, it doesn't but it is! C'mon, get out!"

"Listen, are you sure it's here?" Jake kept asking.

"Yes… Call me later to come and get you, alright?" she asked with a big smile. "C'mon, move those little asses!" she clapped her hands and started her car, leaving. "Ciaoooo!"

They both stood there at the entrance looking at the school until Jake broke the silence.

"This school's a bit lame."

* * *

"I think it's a bit lame with all the colors." Flash complained. "It looks like a kindergarden or whatever."

Suddenly, a girl named Lucy arrived with a huge radio on her arm and put it on the floor, turning it on. She started dancing in the middle of the schoolyard and as soon as she did it, people started joining her. Since the people who were trying to get in the school were there for the same reason – their talent – they couldn't help but do it. Among those people were Clara and a black girl whose name was Simara.

"I just hope I don't have to dance." Flash murmured to himself.

Ruy took out one of his ear-headphones. "What?"

"Uh, nothing." Flash answered, not wanting to go further in the matter.

* * *

When they arrived at the convent school, Ellie and Caroline got out of their car.

"Bye, sweeties." their mom said.

"Bye mom! Bye dad!" Caroline answered, obviously more excited than her sister.

"Behave yourselves." said their father, while leaving with his car.

While they were walking to the entrance, Ellie focused on their parents' car to see it leave and pretended she was looking for something in her bag. Her sister looked at her confused as she said hi to her teacher.

"Aren't you coming in?"

"Uh, yeah I'm coming, I'm just checking something first."

"Such a hurry and now…" Caroline said while she entered the school with her teacher.

With that, Ellie took the oportunity that no one was around or looking at her, to leave and start running in the direction of the arts school.

* * *

"But this doesn't even look like a school of perf… Perfo… How do you say it?" Jake asked.

"Performing arts." Philip answered.

"That…"

"But grams said that above all this looks just like a normal school."

"Yeah and where are the hot girls?" Jaked asked bored and grumpy.

As soon as he made that question, Lucy, Clara and Simara passed next to them without noticing their presence since they were too worried about the music that was coming out of the radio and dancing along with it. The same couldn't be said about the brothers.

"Well, we already have girls." Philip said, joking.

"Hello! I said HOT girls." his brother answered, leaving the hallway.

* * *

"Now you're making me nervous, man…" Flash said walking around.

"Why don't you sing something?" Ruy asked.

"I don't know how to sing, man. Have you ever heard me sing? You're the singer, not me."

"You should've prepared something."

"But I did, I'm going to play bass with you in your audition."

"But this isn't a music school. This is a school of performing arts. You gotta know how to sing, dance–"

"Dance never, dammit!" Flash interrupted not even wanting to think about that possibility.

"Or act…" Ruy continued.

"Oh man..." Flash rubbed his head. "Hey, come with me to the bathroom."

While Flash left the schoolyard, Ruy turned to Leo who was in one of the rooftops and asked him if he wanted to come along.

"Huh?" Leo asked, taking off his headphones.

"I asked if you wanna come."

"Where?"

"The bathroom!"

"What?!" he asked indignant. "What are we? Girls?" he complained, putting his headphones back on.

* * *

Lucy, the girl with the radio continued her walk along the school with the other two girls, making anyone who listened to the music dance with them.

Paula, who was still at the entrance with her mom, looked at the party they were having with enthusiasm in her face.

"What on earth did we get ourselves into?" her mother asked with wide eyes looking at all of them. But that question didn't even reach her daughter's ears since she was already among the other people, dancing as well.

Lucy kept walking through out the school and while she was climbing down the stairs, she didn't notice Paula's mother and bumped into her, dropping the radio, turning it off completely.

"Are you hurt?" Paula's mom asked.

"No, it's okay…" Lucy answered while she checked the radio.

"Then why didn't you see me?"

"Mom!" Paula screamed, embarrassed.

"Aw man, that thing must've broke for good." Clara said looking at the radio.

A boy quickly came to Lucy's aid and helped her with the radio and to their surprise, with sucess. The radio was back on action and so were they. That was, until the radio stopped again and they all turned around to see what happened. But this time, the radio didn't stop by itself, it was stopped by a woman. The principal.

"Neither this is a dance class, nor you are students of this school." she scolded while she climbed up the stairs with a severe look and without saying more.

* * *

In the school's bar, where some people were practicing their performances, a guy named Fabio was on a table with two more boys who he had found when he arried and who he was telling his perspective about acting.

"Acting is everything for me. It's life, it's death… It's life and death." he laughed. "Tom Cruise for example, for me he's the best actor ever."

"Tom Cruise?" one of the boys asked, confused.

"Yeah, Tom Cruise! Did you know that he's not that tall as he looks in the movies? He seems much taller in them and that's acting for me… Do you get it?"

The boy nodded, pretending he was giving ny meaning to the conversation when in reality, he just wanted to get out of there.

On the table next to them were Jake and Philip.

"What about you? Do you already know what you're going to do?" Philip asked.

"Nothing." Jake answered without any reaction.

"But if you do nothing, you don't get in the school…"

"I don't care, this school is boring."

"Aw man, but grams gonna be upset… She was the one that signed us up for this." Philip tried to change his brother's mind. "I spent the whole week practicing my choreography." he smiled. "I just hope the teachers will like it.

Jake looked at him still not saying anything but he could see that his brother was really happy to be there and that it was his dream getting in that school.

"Man, if you don't do anything, grams gonna be really upset." Philip continued.

"I never told grams that I was an artist."

"Why don't you dance? You're a good dancer."

"Are you crazy? Do you really think I'm going to dance here?" he stopped for a moment and looked at Fabio, laughing. "If I have to, I'll pretend I'm taller and everyone will think I'm actor."

Fabio realized that it was for him and that the guy was making fun of him, but he turned his back to Jake and decided to let it go.

After a moment, three girls walked into the bar. Rita, the most selfish and self-centered of them, walked in first.

"What the hell is this? What kind of place is this?" she asked with an annoyed look.

"By the looks of it, must be the bar." answered another one of them, Isabel. She was the most simple and friendly even if Rachel, the third one, was exactly the same. Rita was the only one who had the personality to keep people away, except for her appearence. That was the only thing that kept some boys close.

"It's so awful… Where did I get myself into?" she walked to the middle of the room and raised her hands. "Hey guys, I'm Rita!" she screamed, making everyone look at her and then they all started to laugh at her, including her friends. "Pfft, idiots."

Jake smiled while he looked at Rita. "Hold on 'cause this is getting better."

* * *

In the bathroom, Flash was practicing his acting speech in front of the mirror.

"Are you talking to me? Are you talking to me? There's no one else in here, are you talking to me?!" while he continued, Ruy got out from one of the doors. "So, what do you think?"

"It's a good idea, but…"

"Maybe it's a little bit fetched…" Flash realized.

"Yeah, man… Maybe."

"Then I don't know what to do, man." Flash said, impacient.

"Calm down. You can sing, dance and act."

"But you don't need to do the three to pass, do you?"

"No, man. You only have to do one." Ruy tried to calm him down.

"Then I can only act, man. Look, dance, never in my life. Sing, even worse, I'll scare everyone else in the room."

"Right… I don't know, man…" Ruy also didn't have anything in mind for his friend. While Flash continued with his "performance", Ruy couldn't help but laugh a little.

* * *

"I'm not going to tolerate this!" the principal said while she sat on her chair.

"You're gonna have to get used to it… This is a school of performing arts, the most usual thing you'll see is students dancing in the hallway and everywhere." said Joe, the dance teacher.

"Dancing, singing…" continued Felix, the music teacher.

"And acting, a lot of acting." finished Celia, the act teacher with a smile.

"Whatever. But this school's not going to be like the others."

"I agree with you. It's going to be better." Joe answered.

At the end of the room, Angela, the history teacher couldn't help but share her opinion as well. "The idea of transforming a normal school into a school of clowns was a foolish thing. Sometimes people have such ideas…"

"Well, I think it's a great idea, you gotta risk and innovate." said Carlos, the math teacher. "And I think it's pretty interesting the idea of building na artistic school like this."

"You said well… Artistic, not anarchic." the principal, Linda, said. "Well, I'm going to need the collaboration of all of you but especially of the teachers who are going to select the students for the performing arts. I think I don't have to inform you that only the best may pass. Try to get rid of the students who are only going to bring us trouble in the future."

"I'm still thinking about the parents that had to transfer their children to another school because of this sudden change." Angela commented.

"Yes, in fact in was a frustation…" the principal agreed."

"But there are bad things that lead to good things, right?" Carlos smiled.

"I don't know if the parents would agree with that…" Linda sighed.

"But you can always ask for a transfer and go to another school as well." Joe suggested.

"For what? To lower my level? Not even close! Before all this, this school was considered the best in the city and it still is and I will not let this change it."

"Well, my dear friends, are we going to select the students or not?" Felix asked while he stood up.

* * *

Meanwhile, Paula and her mother were still exploring the school.

"Have you seen this mess, sweetie? I don't know if I like this."

"Mom, the one who decides if it likes it or not, it's me. I'm the one that wants to study here."

"I know but I don't like–"

"By the way, when are you leaving?"

"What?" her mother asked with a surprised look.

"You're not gonna stay here all day, are you?"

"Of course I am, I'm going to stay here with you. Don't tell me you want to see me behind your back. Because I–"

"Mom, please!" Paula grabbed her mom's wrist and pulled her into an empty classroom. "Listen, I'm already nervous. I didn't want to have to–"

"To what? Don't tell me you're embarrased."

"No mom, I'm not embarrased! But I need to be alone, this is too important to me. This is my life."

"Yours and our, dear! You know exactly the sacrifice that I and your dad are doing for you to study here in California."

"Mom, not this conversation again…" Paula started walking away from her mom.

"Oh Paula, don't break my heart. Just by hearing you talk like that…"

"Okay sorry… Don't stay like that. But try to understand, I love you both and I thank you so much for what you're doing but I need to be alone now."

"But what if you can't get in? Have you thought about the possibility of having to go back to Texas today? I don't even understand why you brought so much luggage."

"I'm not going anywhere, I'll stay in California."

"You'll stay in California?" her mom asked with even a more confused look.

"In the school… I'm going to pass the audition." Paula tried to cover up what she just said.

"Oh… And um, can't I take at least a peak of your little test?" her mom asked with a smile with a hint of hope.

* * *

After finally running miles to get there, Ellie reached the school. She didn't know if she was doing the right or the wrong thing, running away to go to another school without her parents knowing. She knew that they would soon find out, but this was her dream and she was chasing it. She couldn't spend half of her life in that convent school anymore, having to hide what she really wanted and felt. In this school, she could show it and didn't have to care about the opinion of others, except of her parents. Without thinking twice, she fixed her uniform to try to look more "normal" and entered the school.

* * *

Flash and Ruy were in the hallway when the bell suddenly rang.

"Aw man, is it time?" Flash asked.

"I don't know but I think we have to go to the auditorium."

"Aw man, I'm screwed…" Flash put a hand in his head without knowing what to do.

* * *

In the auditorium, the three teachers were preparing themselves to receive the students.

"So, do you want to start with the seniors first?" Celia asked.

"Yeah, they are a small class, it might be easier and faster to let them go first." Joe answered.

"I don't know about that… But do you think we'll be able to see the juniors and sophomores today too?" Felix asked.

"That depends on them, right? We're here to see what they do and to–" Celia was suddenly interrupted by Angela who entered the room, making the three teachers surprised staring at her.

"Would it… W-Would it be alright if I assisted?" after a few looks from the teachers, they all nodded. "Thank you." she said with a smile.

* * *

When Ellie was in the bathroom fixing herself and trying to let go of the nerves, she heard someone enter and hid. It was Rita and her friends.

"I'm not nervous one bit, I'm super confident!" Rita said with a big fake smile.

"But did you practice a lot?" asked Rachel. "I practiced almost all week!"

"Me too!" Isabel said with a smile.

"Nope, I don't need to…" Rita answered making them confused. "My destiny is to get in this school and win the scholarship to London."

"Ugh, don't even talk about that, I wish about that everyday!" Isabel said.

"Well to bad, dear. There are only three scholarships and I'm going to win one of them."

"Do you really think you're gonna get one?" Rachel asked.

"I came here for that. If I don't, it's gonna be a waste of time." Rita flipped her hair and sighed.

"Maybe we'll win the three of them!" Rachel says with enthusiasm.

"Maybe…" Rita answered with a non-convinced look. "The bell already rang, are you coming or not?"

After they all left, Ellie finally had time to reflect what they all said. Three scholarships to London? Nobody told her about that and it was definitely not in the school's website. After she heard about it, she stayed even more nervous than before for not knowing what her parents would think about it or if she could even get one of them.

When she came back to her senses, she walked out of the bathroom and kept looking for the auditorium. She reached the schoolyard and fortunately she saw a guy standing in the rooftop with his headphones on, Leo.

"Hey! Hi, um sorry… Do you know where the auditorium is?"

"Huh?!" he took off his headphones and looked down at her.

"The auditions. Do you know where they are?"

That moment, Leo realized that no one was around and his friends were gone. "Where are Ruy and Flash? They left without saying anything?!" he looked everywhere looking for his friends but with no sign of them.

"Do you know it or not?"

"Yeah… I mean, no. Ruy was the one that knew, I came with him… Where is he?" since Ellie realized that it was useless to keep asking him, she left and kept looking for it, leaving Leo in the rooftop alone with his problems. "How do I get out of here now? Ruy! Flash! Help me!"

* * *

"Andre Perez. Artist. Pleasure to meet you!" one of the students presented himself to the teachers.

"Fabio Clark. Actor."

"Paula Moo–" she suddenly stopped when she saw her mother entering the room to take a peak.

"Paulo Moo? But there's no one here with that name." one of the teachers teased.

"Paula Moore." she finished, trying to stay calm.

"Ruy Ols–"

"Hey hey!" that moment, Rita entered the room with both her arms raised without caring about the people that were in there. She walked to the microphone." I'm Rita Miller."

"Miss Miller is going to have to wait for her turn at the end of the queue." Celia said and Rita did as she was told, avoiding other people's gazes. "Thank you… Well, where were we?"

"Ruy Olsen."

"Flash."

One of the teachers looked at his paper with a confused look. "Flash? Flash who?"

"Just Flash. It's my artistic name."

"Flash?" the teacher insisted.

"Yeah, like a camera's flash or Flash Gordon."

"But we need your real name." Felix explained.

"Isn't Madonna just Madonna? Then I can also be just Flash."

"I had a dog with that name once…" Jake said. "And it also used to bark a lot." he joked, making all of them laugh except Flash, Ruy and the teachers.

"His name is Jason Manuel Smith." Ruy finally answered, receiving a punch in his arm from Flash.

After all the students presented themselves, the teachers told them to wait outside until they called their names for the audition, remiding them that they could only choose between singing, dancing or acting and that they should give it all their best.

When they were all ready to leave, Ellie suddenly came running into the room. Ruy immediately recognized the beautiful girl he saw this morning on his way to school, not being able to hide a smile when he saw her.

"Sorry, I-I'm sorry. May I come in? I'm late."

"You're more than late." Celia corrected. "Anyway, what's your name?"

"Ellie Baker."

That moment, Rita frowned and came to have a closer look at the girl who just entered the auditorium, recognizing her mother's bestfriend's daughter without knowing that the hell she was doing in there. "Hey Ellie, what are you doing here?" she received a look from Ellie but no answer.

After the teachers confirmed Ellie's name on the list, they finally told them all to leave and as they all headed to the exit, Ruy stepped closer to Ellie with a smile on his face.

"I knew that I would meet you someday."

With that, Ellie stood there staring at him for a couple of seconds before she finally snapped out of his words and left the room.

* * *

"What do you mean? W-What do you mean? What do you mean my daughter's gone?" Agnes, Ellie's mother couldn't help the stress. "No, that's impossible! Me and my husband took her to school a while ago." she hang up the phone and called her husband.

"Gone?! What do you mean, gone?"

"They don't know… She's nowhere to be found, she dissapeared!"

"But that's impossible!"

"But the teachers insist it! Caroline also doesn't know what happened… She thinks that Ellie didn't even enter the school." she couldn't control the tears anymore.

"This has to be a joke, have you tried calling her?"

"She doesn't answer it…"

"But where the hell is that girl? I'm already losing my mind."

"What if something happened to her? What if she was kidnapped?!" Agnes was about to lose it.

"Kidnapped? Nonsense! Don't you remember that she was in a hurry to go to school this morning? She must've had something planned on her mind already."

"You're right… She was a little weird today… Oh god, I'm so worried."

* * *

"I'll rip that guy's head off!" Flash said while he looked at Jake on the table next to him.

"Forget it, man." Ruy tried to calm him down.

Leo couldn't stop laughing the whole conversation, leaving Flash with a puzzled look. "What are you laughing at?"

"That joke. About a dog named Flash." he kept laughing until he remembered that he was left behind on the rooftop a while ago. "Where the hell have you been? I looked everywhere for you guys and you leave me like that, man?"

"Relax, we weren't going to abandon you." Ruy answered.

"I was almost leaving." Leo warned pointing a finger at him with a severe look. "I'm only here because you asked me to. This isn't my school, I'm already skipping my classes to be here… I need to use the bathroom, where is it?"

Suddenly, Flash's cellphone rand and he answered it with a worried look. "Mom, a-alright calm down. I'm coming there now." after he hang up, he stood up and prepared himself to leave in a hurry.

"Wow, man, wha–" Ruy ran after him. "Flash! Flash wait, man! What's wrong?"

"I gotta go deal with something."

"With what, man? We got the auditions."

"Screw that, I can't right now!" he hurried up the pace without looking back.

"Stop! I'll drive you."

"This is a family business, you're not gonna want to be a part of it, I'm serious."

"I don't care about that, get in the car."

After thinking twice for a few seconds, Flash accepted the ride. "Whatever, man."

With that, they both got in the car and left as fast as they could.


End file.
